


This is how a heart breaks

by fwildflowerf



Category: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: Deals with panic attacks, F/F, F/M, Nancy is not okay, bess is a sweetheart, comfort and friendship, secret feelings, she needs a hug, slight mention of depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:02:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28650981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fwildflowerf/pseuds/fwildflowerf
Summary: Bess knew that having family meant having things in common. She just didn’t imagine, her and Owen’s common thing would be their mutual crush on one redheaded girl obsessed with mysteries, that goes by the name of Nancy Drew.Follow Bess as she struggles with her secret crush on Horseshoe Bay’s favorite mystery solver, and how her hidden feelings affect everyone around her, especially her newly discovered cousin, Owen Marvin. Nancy, as oblivious as always when it comes to feelings, just wants a break and someone to lean on to. But will that someone be the rich bad boy or her best friend, who secretly harbors romantic feelings for her.
Relationships: Ace & Bess Marvin, Ace & Nancy Drew, George Fayne/Ned Nickerson, Lisbeth/Bess Marvin, Nancy Drew/Bess Marvin, Nancy Drew/Owen Marvin, Owen Marvin & Bess Marvin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	This is how a heart breaks

**Author's Note:**

> This is set exactly after episode 15 ' The terror of Horseshoe Bay' , and it will follow the plot line but with obvious changes.

She knows it’s bad, like _I lost my shiny new earrings _bad, but she couldn’t help herself, and how did that old saying go? The heart wants what it wants. And that’s okay, she is a firm believer that you should follow your heart no matter what.__

__What is not okay is that she has a lovely, wonderful, beautiful, if not a little reserved, girlfriend._ _

__What is not okay is that she has heart eyes for Nancy Drew, the most emotionally unavailable girl in town, not to mention Bess is one hundred present sure the girl is as straight as they come._ _

__What is not okay is how her heart starts beating faster and faster every time her chocolate brown eyes land on ocean blue ones._ _

__What is not okay is that said emotionally unavailable girl with ocean blue eyes is also her newly discovered cousin’s crush._ _

__So yes, it was bad._ _

__She has tried getting over her stupid little crush, but every time she was even remotely close to doing that, the girl just had to go and do something that made the brunette fall in love with her even more. It was torture, plain torture on her heart and soul and body, but it was also heaven. Every time Nancy hugged her, held her close, took her hand in hers and sat near her, Bess felt like she was on cloud nine._ _

__And then there was the other kind of torture, the one that made it hard to breathe and kept her awake at night, the kind that made her want to rip her hair apart from worry every time the other girl did something stupid like go and confront dead ghosts, prisoners, abandoned warehouses and just recently murderers, or throw herself into the most dangerous of places like the whisper box and what not._ _

__Sadly, Bess knew that the other girl would never stop doing that, it was what made her fall for Nancy Drew in the first place, along with her beautiful mind and charismatic, if not a little blunt, personality, not to mention her killer body._ _

__She was sitting alone at one of the tables at the Claw, the sun was already up, and she was waiting patiently for one of her friends to show up, even though she has a feeling none of them will come any time soon, after yesterday’s events, with Lucy’s bones and everything else, when suddenly Nancy comes in._ _

__Her hair is thrown into a messy bun and she’s wearing the same clothes as yesterday, making Bess’s stomach churn uncomfortably at the implications, especially since she hadn’t heard the other girl come home last night, her expression is one of fear and she seems paler than usual. If she looks closer, she can see the remains of tear stains on her cheeks. She looks disheveled, an unsettling contrast to her usually put together and no emotions persona she seems to have adopted over the years._ _

__When Nancy’s eyes land on her form it seems like any of the little self-control, she seemed to have had left, was thrown out the window as she flung herself at the brunette, dissolving into a puddle of broken sobs and tears, that tug painfully at Bess’s heart._ _

__Surprised Bess almost doesn’t mobilize herself fast enough to catch the sobbing girl. With wide concerned eyes she looks down at the mess of a girl that was tightly wrapped around her. “Nance? What’s going on? What’s wrong?” she’s desperate to understand what’s happening, to know who made this wonderful girl cry like this._ _

__Suddenly she’s drawn from her thoughts when Nancy starts hyperventilating and she knows the girl is on the verge of having a panic attack. Acting quickly, she slowly moves them down, until they are sat on the floor, her back resting against one of the metal chairs with Nancy in her arms._ _

__“Hey, hey. Deep breaths, you need to breathe, babe.” she says, voice shaking slightly at the display of emotions coming from her usually unbothered friend, “Come on, through the nose. One, two, three, four. There you go. Now hold. And exhale, sweety.”_ _

__Inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8._ _

__Again, and again and again, until she’s absolutely sure Nancy is breathing properly, yet never losing her hold on the girl, rubbing soothing circles on her back, silently reminding her to keep breathing._ _

__“I want it to stop, please make it stop.” Her voice cracks and there are tears flowing freely down her face, staining the porcelain like skin with red-ish lines and even redder cheeks. “I don’t want to do it anymore. I don’t. I don’t. I don’t.” she repeats over an over like a broken record._ _

__Bess is at a loss of words, something that rarely happens, if at all, but this worries her to no end, so much so, that she can’t even speak. So, she resigns to running her fingers soothingly through her hair, tangling and detangling red locks of hair. And that seems to work for a while, but she knows she can’t keep on not saying anything._ _

__“Nancy, what’s going on? You are scarring me.” she asks quietly, effectively ending the mystery solver’s repetition of the words ‘I don’t.’ that each time they are said, send a shiver down the brunettes’ spine, at the emotion they are laced with. “what happened?”_ _

__Nancy looks up and Bess feels like crying herself when she meets her red and puffy eyes, that look more tired than they should be, at her still young age. “I can’t do it anymore, Bess. I know it’s a horrible thing to say, and I am a truly horrible human being for this, but I want it to end.” And Bess’s breath catches in her throat at the implication of Nancy’s words and the urge to crawl in a corner and bawl her eyes out takes over her and it takes everything she has to stay unmoving in her spot, under the tables. “Nancy.” She’s talking softly and slow, as if she were having a conversation with a scared child, unpredictable, not knowing if he’ll bolt or not. “Are you,” she trails of unsure and clears her throat a little, “are you suicidal?”_ _

__Nancy’s eyes go wide, and she snaps her head up, looking into Bess’s dark eyes in surprise, before shaking her head vigorously “No. Gosh, no.” And Bess can finally breath again, feeling as if a weight has been lifted off her shoulders, letting free tears of relief. “I just can’t do this whole Lucy Sable thing anymore, I’m tired. And dad might actually be going to prison and I miss mom so much, sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe. And it’s unfair, so unfair.”_ _

__Bess nods in agreement, it is unfair. It’s horrible and heartbreaking and Nancy of all people doesn’t deserve this kind of hurt and grief and unbearable pain. She’s a good person, the best Bess has ever met, she let her stay at her house, when they were practically strangers, collogues at most._ _

__And Nancy had comforted her time and time again, never making fun of her likes and hobbies – like George often did, and even though she knows the other brunette means well and most insults are said jokingly it still stings, but Nancy never made her hurt, not once, at least not knowingly._ _

__“All I want is to get away, far away from this place, maybe New York or Europe, anywhere but here. But I’m stuck, and I’m terrified I am going to be the next murder mystery story in town, and I don’t. Oh, God, Bess I don’t want to die yet.” She’s trembling so bad, Bess doesn’t know what to do except hold her tighter, closer, harder._ _

__“Hey, you are not going to die. Do you hear me Nancy Drew? You are not going to be murdered and if you really, really want to leave, we’ll leave.” She can’t help but smile a goofy smile when the redheaded girl turns to look at her, rising her head from where it was buried in dark brown locks, just seconds ago, and looks at her with the most surprised face she’s ever seen Nancy Drew sport on her face._ _

__“We?”_ _

__“Of course, we. I’m coming with you. Nancy, you are my best friend” her heart aches painfully at that, a constant remainder she won’t be anything else than the ‘supportive best friend’ as hard as she tries “I love you, and if you go, I go.” It’s a bold statement, made out of nothing but love, the kind of love that consumes you and suddenly it seems a little too crowded in here, with just the two of them, “And besides, you are the only one, besides Ace, who actually likes me.” She adds after a second too long of silence and smiles relieved when the other girl chuckles slightly._ _

__“Thanks, Bess. But I don’t think we’d have space in the car with all your clothes.” She said chuckling slightly, making Bess’s heart swell at the sound she’s missed so much in the last months. “I suppose, I could pack less. If absolutely necessary, of course.”_ _

__“Of course.”_ _

__Nancy smiled softly at Bess, and for that smile she’d even pack only two t-shirts and a skirt, if only that would make that smile on Nancy’s face never fade._ _

__Suddenly the bells, hanging gingerly above the red woodened door, clinked together announcing the arrival of people, but neither of the two girls moved from their places. And that’s how George and Nick found them, a mess of limbs and tears on the ground, tangled in each other’s embrace, with Nancy sitting on Bess’s lap, her arms draped over the brunettes’ neck and Bess’s circling Nancy’s waist pulling her as close as she physically could._ _

__And while George muttered something along the lines of ‘sexually frustrated lesbians’ that turned Bess’s cheeks redder than Nancy’s hair, making her laugh awkwardly trying to mask how close to the truth George actually came, Nick had to do a double take. He’s never seen Nancy that comfortable with anyone, and while the girl was no George Fayne, she still was a little warry with that much kind of touching._ _

__But she seemed fine, more than fine. She looked content, happy despite the obvious tears in her red puffy eyes. He was about to make a comment, say something about all of this when he spotted Nancy’s soft, content smile, making him stop in his movements, because if he thinks about it he can’t remember the last time he’s seen that smile on her face or any smile for that matter._ _

__After giving them one of his infamous _‘I don’t know what’s going on, but okay’ _looks, he followed George into the kitchen, his mind still on Nancy’s crying figure settled on Bess’s lap. She looked so small and frail, it was hard to believe she was the same girl who jumped head in into danger.___ _

____“Hey, Nancy, let’s get up.” As much as Bess wanted them to remain on the floor for the rest of eternity, they had work to do, work involving a high school sea queens’ bones. She helped the redhead up, not letting go of her until she was absolutely sure she was not going to topple over, yet never leaving her side._ _ _ _

____They make their way into the bathroom, well more like Bess half carries half drags Nancy to the restrooms in order to make her friend appear more put together. She watches as the other girl splashes cold water on her face in order to get rid of the red in her cheeks and eyes._ _ _ _

____“Does this happen often?”_ _ _ _

____Nancy’s hands stop mid-air, the water she accumulated in her hands slowly dripping down the drain. “It used to. When my mom got sick, I used to have this horrible panic attacks, they had to pull me out of class a few times.” She chuckles slightly, yet there is anything but humor in her tone as she turns her head to the ground, suddenly finding the tiles on the floor the most interesting thing._ _ _ _

____“I’m sorry.” She doesn’t know what else to say, and feels useless, but Nancy shrugs like it’s no big deal, “It’s not your fault.” she turns around starring down at her reflection in the mirror._ _ _ _

____It’s silent for a minute or two, both girls lost in thoughts, painfully aware of each other’s turmoil. “How does it feel like?” it’s Bess’s voice that cuts through the silence, bursting whatever bubble they were in, as she watches Nancy carefully, wondering if it was wrong of her to ask. And just when she is about to take her question back, pretend she never asked, maybe make a quick exit out the door and send George or Nick in, Nancy speaks, her voice wavering._ _ _ _

____“It’s different for every person, really. For me, it usually starts in my throat; it closes off to where I feel like I am suffocating.” She takes a deep breath as if to remind herself now she can breathe, “I can’t swallow, my heart races and my chest hurts, and everything is spinning, and I feel out of control. It’s horrible, it’s like you are in a carousel that never stops moving and no matter how hard you scream and yell and threaten it never stops turning.”_ _ _ _

____As Nancy lays her feeling bare, all Bess can do is wrap her arms around the girl, rubbing her forearm soothingly, hopefully calming the turbulence of emotions ready to explode at any moment now._ _ _ _

____“Hey, it’s alright. I mean, it must be scary, like really scary, but you are okay. Well, as okay as you can be with ghost haunting us. But that’s irrelevant now. Not irrelevant, irrelevant, more like – ” but she’s caught off, by pillowy pink coated lips, that tasted of strawberries and weird enough sea-salt._ _ _ _

____Any and all thoughts flew from her mind as Nancy’s tongue licked her bottom lips, asking for entrance that Bess gladly gave. And right there in front of the sink, inside the restrooms, it’s when Bess and Nancy kiss for the first time._ _ _ _

____With Nancy’s tongue burning Bess’s viciously and with both of them tasting of tears._ _ _ _

____Then the spell is broken, Bess remembers she has a girlfriend and she basically just took advantage of an emotionally unstable Nancy Drew. Pushing the redheaded girl softly away, she tells her she should better go home and change, doesn’t wait for a response before exiting the bathroom, flushed and flustered and with guilt eating away at her heart._ _ _ _

____And when George and Nick ask where Nancy is, she answers without looking at any of them in the eye. Muttering something about her not feeling good and going home to freshen up. They seem satisfied with the response and turn around, preparing the kitchen for Lucy Sable’s bones to be examined._ _ _ _

____Bess finds herself wishing she were on that trip with Nancy to Europe, right about now._ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I'm new to this fandom, but I absolutely love Nancy Drew and I ship her with basically everyone at this point. I hope you like this and please comment your thoughts :)


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